13. Bad Apples

{Cross posted from another thread but thought it would work in this one as well. Plus I love Michael Moore and I wish we had listened to his prescience years ago and maybe those sweet little ones would still be alive. Those pictures tear me apart, they were all even lovelier than I imagined.}

One of the main conservative arguments for lower taxes is that it stifles growth and the job creators won’t create jobs. In practice, if this were true, America would be swimming in jobs. It is proven false in practice no matter how loud Republicans scream. Now with this horrible shooting, gun proponents say that only more guns will make us safer. Let's arm the teachers and the students, lets have armed guards on campus, lets put us all into permanent lock down.

Well lets look at that, “In the period between 1968 and 1992, gun ownership in the U.S. increased 135 percent--and during that same period, handgun ownership increase 300percent.” AND “As historian Michael Bellesiles notes, during the time between the American Revolution and the Civil War, no more than one-tenth of the American population owned guns.”

AND “Forty-seven percent of American adults currently report that they have a gun in their home or elsewhere on their property. This is up from 41% a year ago and is the highest Gallup has recorded since 1993, albeit marginally above the 44% and 45% highs seen during that period.”

So, if gun ownership makes us safer, why have we seen the inverse? The more guns Americans acquire the more violent our society becomes.

Personally, these shootings are a symptom of a deep sickness in our society, a pathology rooted deep. Other countries have guns and although violence does happen, it’s not with the frequency or savagery or high death counts we are continually witnessing here. I don’t know the answer; all I know is that we have to do something. We have tried more guns and more guns and more guns, it is not working. We don’t have to live this way, its time for a new approach. The saying goes that a few bad apples destroy the whole bunch. I have had my life impacted over the years by these few bad apples, mostly in relation to flying by plane. Why should gun owners be any different? There have been too many bad apples lately and so those who own guns responsibly or not must pay the price for that. That is part of living in civilized society, where the needs of the many should outweigh the wants of the few. If we can no longer abide by what is, its time to change it, in this case far past time. As Michael said, I can feel the change, a shift in our consciousness. A sleeping giant is awakening and boy is he pissed.